630.7 
0k4b 
no.  32 
cop.  4 


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OKLAh^OMA 


Agricultural  Experiment  Station 


Bulletin  No.  32-March,  1898. 


Practical  Chemistry  of  Soils  and  Crops, 
A Study  of  the  Castor  Oil  Plant, 


GEO.  L.  HOLTER, 
JOHN  FIELDS 


Bulletins  of  this  Station  are  Sent  Free  to  Residents  of  the  T erritory  on  Request 


STILLWATER,  OKLAHOMA. 


OKLAHOMA 


AGRIOULTURAL  AND  MEOHANIOAL  OOLLEGE. 


Agricultural  Experiment  Station. 


BOARD  OF  REGENTS, 

IKIN.  C.  M.  BARNES,  GovEKNOB,  ex-offlcio,  - 
HON.  JOHN  D.  DEBOIS,  PRESIDENT, 

HON.  F.  CARUTHE:RS,  Treasukek.  . . . . 

HON.  R J.  EDWARDS. 

HON.  W.  F.  BORT. 

H(^N.  DAl.E  LYTTON,  ------ 


Guthrie 
Guthrie 
Oklahoma  City 
Oklahoma  City 
Kingfisher 
Stillwater 


STATION 

GEORGE  E.  MORROW,  M.  A.. 

HENRY  E.  GL-\ZIER,  - - - - 

GEO.  L.  HOLTER,  B.  S..  - - - 

E.  E.  BOGUE,  M.  S., 

L.  L.  LEWIS.  M.  S.,  D.  V.  M.. 

JOHN  FIELDS,  B.  S.. 

J.  H.  BONE,  B.  S.. 

J.  T.  DeBOIS. 


STAFF. 

Director  and  agriculturist. 
Vice-Director  and  Horticulturist 
Chemist. 

Botanist  and  Entomologist. 
Veterinarian. 

Assistant  Chemist. 

Assistant  Agriculturist 

Cl.ERK 


Practical  Chemistry  of  Soils  and  Crops, 


SUMMARY, 

1.  The  fertility  of  every  soil  has  a limit.  Each  crop 
g’rown  removes  a portion  of  the  elements  of  fertility  and  leaves 
the  soil  poorer. 

2.  The  staple  crops  of  Oklahoma — wheat,  oats,  corn,  kafir, 
cotton,  and  castor  beans — if  properly  manag'ed  will  not  quickly 
exhaust  the  soil. 

3.  The  portion  of  these  crops  that  is  sold,  when  intelli- 
g-ently  handled,  removes  less  plant-food  than  does  that  irortion 
which  is  frequently  wasted  and  which  should  be  returned  to 
the  soil. 

4.  General  farmin^q  the  g-rowing-  of  a moderate  aci'eag-e  of 
each  of  many  crops,  is  to  be  prefeia*ed  to  the  g-rowing^  of  but  one 
or  two  crops  year  after  year. 

.).  Stock-raising"  and  feeding*  should  be  eng'aged  in  by 
every  farmer  who  can  possibly  arrange  to  do  so.  Aside  from 
the  increased  price  thus  secured  for  crops,  this  system  of  farm- 
ing- tends  to  keep  the  plant-food  on  the  farm. 

6.  Stable  manure  is  a valuable  agent  for  the  improvement 
of  our  soils,  and  should  in  all  cases  be  well  cared  for  and 
spread  on  the  fields,  and  not  be  regarded  as  a nuisance  to  be 
disposed  of  in  the  easiest  possible  manner. 

7.  Castor  bean  pods  contain  a large  amount  of  fertilizing 
constituents,  are  of  fully  as  much  manurial  value  as  average 
wood  ashes,  and  should  be  regarded  as  an  important  feature  of 
the  castor  bean  crop. 


INTRODUCTION. 

It  should  be  the  earnest  endeavor  of  each  owner  of  a farm 
to  keep  the  original  stock  of  fertility  of  the  soil  unimpaired, 
and,  if  possible,  to  so  manage  that  an  increase  over  previous 
yields  will  be  secured  rather  than  a continually  diminishing 
return  for  the  labor  expended.  That  this  may  be  accomplished, 
it  is  essential  that  the  simpler  facts  of  the  chemistrv  of  soils 
and  crops  be  familiar  to  every  one  engaged  in  farming.  The 


— 4 — 


following’  pages  have  been  prepared  for  the  purpose  of  ac- 
quainting the  farmers  of  Oklahoma  with  what  is  known  along 
this  line,  and  of  clearly  setting  forth  the  relation  of  our  prin- 
cipal staple  crops  to  the  soil’s  fertility.  The  experience  of  the 
eastern  part  of  the  United  States  emphasizes  the  importance  of 
this  subject.  The  enormous  sum  paid  annually  for  commercial 
fertilizers  is,  to  a great  extent,  the  penalty  which  must  be  paid 
for  wasteful  practices  which  were  common  when  the  “un- 
bounded fertility”  of  the  soil  w^as  never  questioned. 

PLANTS. 

Every  plant,  from  the  vilest  weed  to  the  most  valuable 
crop  that  grows,  is  made  up  of  essentially  the  same  elementary 
sustances.  Part  of  these  substances  are  taken  from  the  air  and 
part  from  the  soil.  At  present,  for  sake  of  clearness,  no  further 
reference  will  be  made  to  that  portion  obtained  from  the  air. 
More  than  a dozen  different  elements  contained  in  plants  are 
derived  from  the  soil.  It  is  needless  for  our  present  purpose  to 
complicate  matters  by  giving  a list  of  them.  All  of  them  are 
essential  to  the  production  of  plants  and  all  are  found  in  almost 
every  soil. 

SOILS. 

Practically,  every  soil  contains  all  of  these  substances,  with 
three  exceptions,  in  sufficient  amounts  for  the  production  of 
maximum  crops  if  the  other  conditions,  such  as  water  supply 
and  mechanical  conditions,  are  right.  This  being  the  case,  it  is 
sufficient  for  our  present  purpose  to  consider  only  the  ex- 
ceptions. 

The  three  substances  frequently  deficient  in  soils  are  nitro- 
gen, potash,  and  phosphoric  acid.  These  names  have  been  as- 
signed to  certain  substances  that  are  present  in  and  essential 
to  the  growth  of  all  plants.  If  one  is  absent  from  a soil,  the 
crop  will  not  mature  properly;  if  any  one  of  them* -exists  in  a 
very  limited  quantity,  continually  decreasing-crops  will  be  the 
result.  Nitrogen,  potash,  and  phosphoric  acid  collectively  are 
called  plant-food,  a term  which  carries  its  meaning  with  it. 

This  plant-food  exists  in  several  forms  in  the  soil;  some  of 
it  is  soluble,  and  consequently  called  available,  because  it  is  in 
a form  to  be  taken  up  by  plants.  Other  portions  are  insoluble 
and  not  ready  for  use.  hence  termed  unavailable.  The  amount 


of  available  plant-food  in  a soil  is  the  factor  which  determines 
its  ability  to  produce  a crop  and  the  number  of  crops  which  it 
will  produce.  The  available  plant-food  is  slowly  replenished 
from  the  insoluble  portion,  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  being- 
diminished  by  crops  and  by  the  leaching-  of  the  soil  by  heavy 
rains.  This  supply  of  plant-food  is  the  stored-up  energy  of  the 
farm.  Different  crops  remove  tliese^three  materials  in  different 
amounts,  but::each  crop  leaves  the  soil  with  a portion  of  its 
stored-up  energy  expended. 

SOIL  ANALYSIS. 

This  being  true,  it  would  seem  that  a chemical  analysis  of 
a soil  should  tell  exactly  the  amount  of  plant-food  which  it 
contained  and  afford  a means  of  correctly  estimating  its  crop- 
producing  power.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case.  The  difficulty 
of  securing  representative  samples,  inability  to  determine  the 
exact  amount  of  available  plant-food,  and  the  impossibility  of 
correctly  forecasting  the  rate  of  change  in  availability  of  the 
plant-food,  make  a soil  analysis  of  little  direct,  practical  value 
to  a farmer.  Climatic  conditions  being  favorable,  the  only  true 
test  of  a soil’s  ability  to  produce  a crop  is  a crop  test. 

On  the  other  hand,  a study  ofdthe  amount  of  plant-food  re- 
moved by  different  crops,  and  of  the  most  profitable  way  of 
converting  those'crops  into  money^and  still  retaining  their  ele- 
ments of  fertility  on  the  farm,  is  the  true  way  for  a farmer  to 
conserve  his] capital.  Leading  toward  this  end,  Oklahoma’s 
staple  crops  have  been  studied  and  general  plans  of  the  way  of 
disposing  of  them  so  as  to  reduce  the  loss  of  plant-food,  by 
their  sale,  to  a minimum  are  given  in  the  following  pages. 

WHEAT. 

One  thousand  pounds  of  winter  wheat  contain  24  lbs.  nitro- 
gen, 6 lbs.  potash  and  9 lbs.  phosphoric  acid.* 

The  straw  harvested  with  this  amount  of  grain  will  weigh 
approximately  two  thousand  pounds,  which  contain  12  lbs. 
nitrogen,  10  lbs.  potash  and  3 lbs.  phosphoric  acid. 

The  grower  of  wheat  has  no  option  but  to  sell  the  grain. 

*The  commercial  value  of  the  elements  of  plant-food  in  farm  crops  is  at  present 
assumed  to  be  the  following  per  lb.:  nitrogen,  12cts.;  potash.  .5  cts. ; phosphoric  acid, 
4 cts.  These  ngures  represent  what  these  materials  would  cost  if  purchased  in  the  form 
of  fertilizers  to  be  applied  to  the  soil. 


— I)  — 


Present  methods  of  disposing  of  the  straw  could  be  greatly  im- 
proved. The  straw  is  valuable  not  only  on  account  of  the 
plant-food  which  it  contains  but  also  on  account  of  the  large 
amount  of  organic  matter.  Many  of  our  soils  are  hard  and 
compact  and  would  be  greatly  improved  by  plowing  the  wheat 
straw  under,  thus  bettering  their  mechanical  condition  by  mak- 
ing them  take  up  water  more  readily  and  part  with  it  by  evap- 
oration more  reluctantly.  The  straw,  instead  of  being  burned 
or  allowed  to  decay  in  one  huge  pile,  should  be  hauled  or 
dragged  over  the  field,  scattered  about  and  plowed  under.  It 
is  true  that  decomposition  of  straw  takes  place  but  slowly  in 
this  climate,  but  the  little  extra  trouble  in  plowing  will  be 
repaid  b}^  the  improvement  of  the  soil  wdiich  will  result.  Where 
headers  are  used,  much  of  the  straw  is  left  in  the  fields,  but 
that  which  is  removed  should  nevertheless  be  returned  to  the 
soil. 

The  preceding  remarks  apply  to  farms  almost  exclusively 
devoted  to  raising  wheat,  and  on  which  little  stock  is  kept. 
On  farms  where  a variety  of  crops  is  grown,  the  manure  pro- 
duced by  bedding  the  stock  in  stables,  as  well  as  that  which 
accumulates  when  cattle  winter  about  the  straw  pile,  should  be 
hauled  onto  the  fields  and  plowed  under  when  the  soil  is  being 
prepared  for  a subsequent  crop. 

OATS. 

One  thousand  pounds  of  oats  contain  20  lbs.  nitrogen,  12 
lbs.  potash  and  16  lbs.  phosphoric  acid. 

The  straw  harvested  with  this  amount  of  grain  wfill  weigh 
approximately  two  thousand  pounds,  which  contain  12  lbs. 
nitrogen,  25  lbs.  potash* and  4 lbs.  phosphoric  acid. 

The  grain  may  be  either  sold  or  fed  on  the  farm.  At 
prices  which  usually  prevail,  it  pays  better  to  pursue  the 
former  course  and  feed  corn  or  kafir. 

The  remarks  made  concerning  the  disposal  of  wheat  straw 
apply  with  equal  force  in  regard  to  oat  straw,  with  the  excep- 
tion that  the  latter  contains  a larger  amount  of  plant-food 
and  its  return  to  the  soil  is  even  more  important. 

CORN. 

One  thousand  pounds  of  corn  in  the  ear  contain  14  lbs. 
nitrogen,  5 lbs.  potash  and  6 lbs.  phosphoric  acid. 


Approximately  six  hundred  pounds  of  corn  stover  will  be 
produced  along-  with  this  amount  of  corn.  This  weight  of 
stover  contains  6 lbs.  nitrogen,  8 lbs.  potash  and  2 lbs.  phos- 
phoric acid. 

By  far  the  largest  amount  of  corn  grown  in  the  Territory  is 
husked  from  the  standing  stalks,  which  are  left  in  the  field  and 
serve  as  winter  pasture  for  cattle.  It  is,  however,  customary 
to  drag  off  the  stalks  in  the  spring  and  burn  them.  This  prac- 
tice has  its  commendable  features,  as  it  is  very  difficult  to  get 
the  soil  in  good  condition  when  it  is  littered  with  corn  stalks. 
Notwithstanding  this,  the  practice  is  a wasteful  one  and  should 
be  resorted  to  as  seldom  as  possible.  All  of  the  nitrogen  is  lost 
when  anything  is  burned,  as  well  as  the  organic  matter  in 
which  many  of  our  soils  are  deficient. 

The  disposal  of  the  corn  is  accomplished  in  two  principal 
ways,  either  by  selling  the  crop  direct,  or  by  feeding  it  to  cattle 
or  hogs  and  selling  them.  From  the  standpoint  of  maintenance 
of  fertility,  the  former  method  is  undesirable.  Better  returns 
in  money  are  usually  secured  and  less  depletion  of  the  soil’s 
resources  takes  place  when  the  corn  is  fed  to  stock  and  the 
manure  returned  to  the  soil.  When  any  crop  is  fed  to  stock, 
less  than  25  per  cent,  of  the  manurial  value  of  the  feed  is 
carried  off  by  the  animals  when  they  are  sold.  This  being  the 
case,  farms  where  a sufficient  number  of  animals  is  fed  to  con- 
sume the  corn  crop  will,  beyond  question,  be  producing  good 
crops  of  corn  long  after  the  farms  from  which  the  crop  is  sold 
every  year  have  been  abandoned. 

KAFIR. 

One  thousand  pounds  of  mature  kafir  fodder  (whole  plant) 
contain  8 lbs.  nitrogen,  22  lbs.  potash  and  9 lbs.  phosphoric 
acid.* 

For  sake  of  comparison,  one  thousand  pounds  of  corn  fodder 
contain  12  lbs.  nitrogen,  9 lbs.  potash  and  6 lbs.  phosphoric 
acid. 

Under  present  conditions,  the  bulk  of  kafir  grown  is  fed  on 
the  farm.  This,  as  with  corn,  is  the  most  desirable  method  of 
disposing  of  the  crop. 

^Calculated  from  but  one  analysis,  samjjle  No.  576;  moisture,  7.53  per  ct.;  nitrogen, 
0.76  perct. ; potash,  2.22  perct. ; phos.  acid,  0.91  per  ct.  No  analyses  of  kafir  grain  for 
fertilizer  constituents  are  available. 


H 


(COTTON. 

There  is  no  other  crop  that  will,  if  improperly  managed, 
more  certainly  diminish  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  The  impover- 
ished soils  of  the  old  cotton-growing  states  are  a more  convinc- 
ing argument  in  support  of  this  proposition  than  any  arrange- 
ment of  the  results  of  chemical  analyses  could  possibly  be. 
Yet  it  may  serve  a useful  purpose  for  us  to  examine  the  compo- 
sition of  the  cotton  plant,  that  we  may  understand  clearly  why 
it  Is  so  exhausting  to  the  soil  and  how  to  avoid  this  exhaustion. 

One  thousand  pounds  of  ginned  cotton  contain  3^  lbs.  nitro- 
gen, lbs.  potash  and  1 lb.  phosphoric  acid. 

With  this  amount  of  lint  will  be  produced  two  thousand 
pounds  of  cottonseed,  which  contain  63  lbs.  nitrogen,  23  lbs. 
potash  and  25  lbs.  phosphoric  acid. 

If  nothing  but  the  lint  is  sold,  and  the  seed  is  in  some  way 
returned  to  the  soil,  but  very  little  diminution  of  the  soil’s  fer- 
tility will  result,  the  lint  containing  but  an  insignificant  amount 
of  plant-food. 

The  seed,  on  the  contrary,  is  a concentrated  substance  which 
contains  a large  amount  of  materials  whose  removal  impover- 
isnes  the  soil.  Cottonseed  may  be  disposed  of  in  a variety  of 
ways,  chief  among' them  being  (a)  selling  for  an  absurdly  low 
price  to  gins,  where  it  is  sometimes  used  for  fuel,  thus  entailing 
an  enormous  waste  of  nitrogenous  matter;  (b)  selling  to  oil  mills, 
where  the  oil  is  extracted  and  the  cottonseed  meal  shipped  to 
northern  markets,  carrying  with  it  the  fertility  of  our  soils;  (c) 
feeding  the  seed  to  cattle,  or  exchanging  it  for  cottonseed  meal 
at  the  oil  mill  and  feeding  the  meal. 

Without  losing  sight  of  the  fact  that  it  is  not  always  possi- 
ble to  do  the  best  thing  from  an  economic  standpoint,  it  does 
seem  that  the  lesson  of  the  old  states  should  not  be  lost  on  this 
new  country.  At  times  it  may  be  necessar}^  to  sell  the  seed  for 
what  it  will  bring  and  use  the  proceeds  for  pressing  necessities. 
This  should,  however,  be  the  exception  and  not  the  customary 
method.  The  cotton-grower  is  very  apt  to  become  a “one- 
crop”  man,  and,  if  he  does,  the  chances  are  that  he  will  leave 
neither  money  nor  a good  farm  to  his  children. 

The  general  results  of  feeding  experiments  with  cottonseed 
are  that  it  may  be  fed  with  profit  to  steers  in  connection  with 


— II  — 


our  common  forage  plants,  such  as  corn  or  katir  stover.  It  is 
not  considered  safe  to  feed  it  to  hogs,  but  bad  results  are  not 
always  experienced  when  hogs  are  allowed  to  run  after  steers 
that  have  been  fed  cottonseed.  The  building  of  oil  mills  should 
be  encouraged  and,  when  they  are  established,  an  exchange  of 
cottonseed  for  cottonseed  meal,  which  is  the  better  feed,  should 
be  made  instead  of  selling  the  seed.  The  meal  is  left  after  the 
extraction  of  most  of  the  oil,  and  is  an  excellent  feeding  stuff 
in  addition  to  its  containing  nearly  all  of  the  plant-food  which 
was  in  the  hulled  seed.  The  feeding  of  cottonseed  and  its 
products  to  cattle  by  cotton-growers  is  the  proper  method  of 
keeping  up  the  fertility  of  our  cotton-fields.  Had  this  plan 
been  followed  by  cotton-growers  in  the  old  South,  they  would 
not  now  be  under  the  pressing  burden  of  an  enormous  annual 
expenditure  for  commercial  fertilizers. 

CASTOR  BEANS. 

• 

An  extended  study  of  the  castor  oil  plant  has  been  made. 
Details  not  of  direct,  practical  interest  are  given  at  the  close 
of  this  bulletin. 

Since  the  leaves  and  stalks  of  this  plant  remain  in  the 
field,  the  plant-food  which  they  contain  returns  in  a great 
measure  to  the  soil  and  need  not  enter  into  this  discussion. 

The  portion  which  is  gathered  when  the  crop  is  harvested 
consists  of  the  pods  containing  the  beans,  together  with  the 
stems  of  the  spikes.  This  is  later  divided  into  two  portions, 
which  we  have  designated  respectively  as  beans,  the  part 
which  is  sold,  and  pods,  which  remain  on  the  farm.  One  hun- 
dred pounds  of  the  dry,  gathered  spikes  yield,  as  the  average 
of  our  determinations,  55  lbs.  of  cleaned  beans  and  45  lbs.  of 
pods.  The  features  of  this  croj)  which  deserve  study  are  (a)  the 
amount  of  plant-food  sold  with  the  beans  and  (b)  the  amount  of 
plant-food  contained  in  the  pods  and  whether  or  not  they  are 
worth  looking  after. 

One  thousand  pounds  of  castor  beans  contain  35  lbs.  nitro- 
gen, 4 lbs.  potash  and  14  lbs.  phosphoric  acid. 

The  pods  gathered  with  this  amount  of  beans  weigh  ap- 
proximately eight  hundred  pounds  and  contain  13  lbs.  nitrogen, 
4h  lbs.  potash  and  lbs.  phosphoric  acid. 

The  beans  themselves  are  not  exceptionally  “hard’'  on 


10 


the  soil,  and  a comparison  of  the  money  value  of  castor  beans 
with  that  of  an  equal  weig’ht  of  other  crops  leads  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  desirable  to  g'row  them  in  preference  to  crops 
that  require  a large  amount  of  expensive  machinery  to  handle. 

The  pods  contain  an  amount  of  plant-food  of  more  value 
than  that  present  in  an  equal  weight  of  average  wood  ashes. 
The  value  of  ashes  as  a fertilizer  is  well  known  and  utilized  by 
careful  farmers.  The  pods  of  castor  beans  are  fully  as  valuable 
and  should  be  taken  care  of  and  returned  to  the  soil.  Their 
value  as  a manure,  based  upon  what  the  plant-food  in  them 
would  cost  if  purchased  in  the  form  of  fertilizers,  is  over  ten 
dollars  per  ton.  This  figure  represents  the  extent  to  which  the 
stored-up  capital  of  the  farm  is  drawn  upon  and  wasted  when 
this  portion  of  the  crop  is  not  returned  to  the  soil  The  plant- 
food  in  the  hulls  is  slowly  available  and  their  effect  would  be 
lasting.  From  their  composition,  they  are  well  suited  for  the 
manuring  of  fruit  trees  and  similar  valuable  crops.  The  pods 
cannot  be  sold  for  money,  but  they  are  a feature  of  this  crop 
second  only  in  importance  to  the  beans,  and  should  be  put  to 
good  use  and  not  be  wasted. 

ALFALFA  AND  COW-PEAS. 

The  preceding  comprise  the  principal  crops  that  are  grown 
for  market.  In  this  connection,  the  class  of  plants  to  which 
alfalfa  and  cow-peas  belong  should  be  mentioned.  These  two  are 
the  most  promising  leguminous  plants  for  forage  in  this  climate. 
The}"  differ  from  the  crops  previously  mentioned  in  that  they 
possess  the  power  of  securing  from  the  air  a portion  of  the 
nitrogen  which  their  growth  requires.  Thus,  when  grown  and 
fed  on  the  farm,  they  increase  rather  than  diminish  the  stock 
of  fertility  in  the  soil.  When  cow-peas  are  plowed  under,  not 
only  is  the  mechanical  condition  of  the  soil  improved,  but  there 
is  an  increase  in  the  store  of  plant-food  available  for  subsequent 
crops.  The  same  is  true  of  alfalfa,  whether  it  is  pastured  or  cut 
for  hay  and  fed  on  the  farm,  the  manure  being  returned  to  the 
soil. 


A Study  of  the  Castor  Oil  Plant, 

1897. 

This  study  consists  of  a determination  of  the  amounts  of 
nitrog’en,  potash  and  phosphoric  acid  removed  from  the  soil 
by  (a)  the  entire  crop,  (b)  the  stalks  and  roots,  (c)  the  leaves, 
(d)  the  beans  and  (e)  the  pods. 

Seed  of  the  common  variety  from  two  sources,  one  Okla- 
homa and  the  other  Kansas  grown,  and  of  an  ornamental  vari- 
ety, were  planted  May  4.  During  the  next  two  weeks  there 
was  a rainfall  of  approximately  ten  inches,  which  hindered 
germination  and,  to  some  extent,  prevented  the  plants  from 
getting  a good  start.  After  the  plants  were  a few  inches  high. 


'Fable  i. 


VARIKTY  AXD 

PLANT  No. 

Total 
Weights  . 

j Stalk>  i 
and 
Roots 

j 

Leave.s  j 

j 

Beans  | 

Pods 

Beans 

and 

Polls 

No.  1 — A . 

10.52 

890  ‘ 

:«4 

828 

047 

B 

22.^5 

1127 

498 

808 

207 

080 

c . ... 

169-^  1 

840 

481 

224 

197 

421 

u 

1 

01.5 

220 

818 

229 

547 

E 

•202n 

10.55 

438  ! 

812 

225 

587 

Total 

9449 

4089 

1978  ! 

1541  j 

1241 

2782 

AveiMSie 

1 S9() 

988 

890 

808  1 

248 

550 

No.  •.*  -A  

1882 

.581 

887 

818 

0.50 

B 

1870 

000 

880 

24.5 

195 

440 

c 

:>160 

! 1108 

880 

801 

801 

002 

D 

1077 

! 170 

227 

208 

172 

880 

J‘] 

l.'iOO 

780 

80.5 

2'"0 

222 

508 

Total  . .. 

1 8719 

! 4850 

1728 

1487 

1 208 

2040 

Average  . .. 

1744 

871 

845 

287 

241 

528 

No.  H-A  

184.0 

1020 

294 

805 

220 

.525 

B 

1121 

058 

178 

100 

115 

285 

c 

1794 

940 

818 

802 

228 

580 

D 

2511 

1889 

840 

458 

818 

770 

Total  

7271 

4019 

1180 

1225 

891 

2110 

Average 

, 1818 

1(X)5 

284 

800 

223 

529 

ll»  — 


all  except  tive  of  each  variet}^  were  removed.  The  plants  were 
numbered  as  follows: 

No.  — A,  B,  C,  D & E.  Common  variety,  Oklahoma  g'rown. 

No.  2 — A,  B,  C,  D & E.  Common  variety,  Kansas  g'rown. 

No.  3 — A,  B,  C,  D & E.  Large  ornamental  variety. 

The  dead  leaves  and  ripe  pods  were  removed  daily  and  kept 
in  separate  sacks  for  each  plant.  d’he  plants,  having  been 
killed  by  frost,  were  removed  from  the  soil  November  8.  Plant 
No.  3E  produced  no  beans,  and  was  discarded. 

Table  1 gives  the  weights  of  each  plant  and  of  each  part  at 
the  time  when  the  samples  were  taken  for  analysis.  All  weights 
are  stated  in  grams. 

Samples  of  the  stalks  and  roots,  the  leaves,  the  beans  and 
the  pods  were  taken  for  each  sort  grown,  and  water,  nitrogen, 
potash  and  phosphoric  acid  determined  in  each.  The  results 
of  these  determinations  appear  in  Table  2. 


'JabU  2. 


VARIETY  No. 

AND  PART 

Lbs 

IN  100  Lbs.  as  Sampled. 

Water 

i Nitrogen 

Potash 

Phosphor. 

Acid 

i 

No.  1 -Stalks  and  roots.. 

H9.89 

0.24 

0 34 

0.06 

Leaves 

1 .66 

1 .29 

0.23 

Beans 

4.84 

3.51 

0.41 

l.:38 

Pods 

7.14 

1.84 

5.76 

0.20 

Nt).  2— Stalks  and  roots 

fiH.99 

0.27 

0.45 

0.05 

Leaves 

32 . 62 

1.61 

1.49 

0.22 

Beans  

4 66 

3.39 

0.54 

1.38 

Pods  

10  72 

1 .42 

5.74 

0.15 

1 No.  3 Stalks  and  roots 

72.24 

0.31 

0.32 

0.05 

i Leaves 

26.77 

1 .71 

1.18 

0.22 

Beans 

b . 03 

3 58 

0 54 

1 .48 

1 Pods 

8.72 

2 82 

6.54 

0.37 

'I'able  3. 


1 

VARIETY  No.. 

AND  PART 

GKAMS  IN 

Nitrogen 

AVage  of  5 Planu's 

; Potash  Thosphor. 
j 1 Acid 

No.  1— Stalks  and’ roots 

2.25 

3.19 

0.54 

No.  2 -Stalks  and  roots  . . ... 

2.:I6 

3.V.2 

0.44 

, So.  1— Leaves 

6.57 

5.11 

0.91 

No.  2— Leaves 

5 . 55 

5.14 

0.76 

No.  1 — Beans  

10.81 

1 .26 

4.25 

No.  2 Beans 

9.73 

1 . 55 

3.96 

No.  1— Pods  

4.56 

14.28 

0,,50 

No.  2-Pods  

3.42 

13.83 

0.36 

— 1:;  — 

Prom  these  results  have  been  calculated  the  followinj^^ 
tables  shovvinja;  the  weisi’ht  in  g’rams  of  pl.'int-food  removed  by 
each  part.  For  sake  of  compariso!i,  the  wei^^hts  for  the  two 
sorts  of  the  common  variety  are  ^ivt-n  in  Table  3.  Averages 
are  shown  in  Table  4,  as  well  as  the  total  amount  removed  by 
one  plant  wei^^hinf.r  1^1"  :^'rams.  the  avera<.;'e  weiyht  of  one  plant 
of  the  common  variety. 


J'ablr  4. 


\ 

Okams 

IN  ONE  Plant 

■ PAFa’T.— AVEHA(JK  (^F 

Nos.  1 AND 

! 

Nitrogen 

Potash 

;Phosphor. 

Acid 

Stalks  and  roots 

•’  :tn 

:t  ,=>.6 

0.  to 

Leaves 

« 06 

.■S.12 

0 S4 

Beans  

' 10.27 

2.40 

4.10 

Pods 

.1.09 

14.06 

0.48 

Entire  plant  

22.62 

2.T.1.1 

.=>.86 

Prom  these  data  the  following'  percentag'e  composition  has 
been  calculated  for  the  common  variety: 

'rablc  j. 


MATERIAI. 

In  100  Parts  Fresh  Substance 

Nitrogen 

Potash 

iPhosphor. 
j Acid  1 

Stalks  and  roots 

0.26 

0.40 

0.06 

Leaves 

1 .64 

1 .;io 

0.28 

Beans  

8.4,6 

0 48 

1 88 

Pods 

1 .68 

.6,7.6 

0.18 

I Entire  plant 

1.24 

1 .:iH 

0.82 

In  a similar  manner  the  following  tables  have  been  calcu- 
lated from  the  data  relating  to  the  ornamental  variety,  the 
average  weight  of  one  plant  being  1H17  grams: 


'fable  6. 


PART. -No.  8 

Grams  In  (One  Plant 

Nitrogen 

Potash 

Phosphor.! 

1 Acid 

Stalks  and  roots  

8.12 

8 :22 

0..60  ‘ 

Leaves  

4.86 

8.3.6 

0.62 

Beans 

10.9.6 

1 .6.6 

1,68 

pods  

6 29 

14. .68 

0.88 

Entire  plant . ,. 

•2.6. -2:2 

22.80 

6.48 

— 14  — 


Prom  these  data  the  following  composition  has  been  calcu- 
lated for  the  ornamental  variety: 


'/'able  7. 


MATERIAL 

In  100  Pak'I's  Fkksh  .Si  mstanok 

Nitrogen  , 

Potash 

Phosphor. 

Acid 

Stalk.s  and  roots  

O.Hl 

().:« 

0.0') 

Leaves  

1 .71 

1 . IH 

0. 

Beans  

:5 . 

o.^-l 

1 .4' 

Pods 

0 . .04 

o.:p 

Entire  plant 

i.;io 

1 -’.o 

o.:io  I 

Of  the  common  variety,  55  per  cent,  of  the  portion  removed 
from  the  field,  as  the  crop  is  j.^’athered  in  practice,  consisted  of 
beans  and  45  per  cent,  of  pods. 

Beans  of  each  variety  were  carefully  hulled  and  the  per 
cent,  of  hulls  and  of  beans  determined  with  the  followin^^ 
results: 

No.  1 — 75.27  per  cent,  hulled  beans;  24.78  per  cent,  hulls. 

No.  2 — 74.75  per  cent,  hulled  beans;  25.25  per  cent,  hulls. 

No.  3— 75. 72  per  cent,  hulled  beans;  24.28  per  cent,  hulls. 

The  most  striking'  feature  of  these  results,  the  high  manur 

ial  value  of  the  pods,  has  already  been  pointed  out  in  this  bul- 
letin. Comparison  with  other  analyses  published  in  Bulletin  25 
of  this  Station  reveals  the  uniformity  of  the  results  now 
reported  with  previous  work. 


DETERMINATION  OF  OIL  IN  OASTOR  BEANS, 

The  large  amount  of  oil  in  castor  beans  makes  it  impossible 
to  pulverize  them  before  extraction.  In  making  determinations 
of  the  total  oil  the  following  method  proved  satisfactory. 

The  beans  were  first  hulled,  using  a knife,  and  the  percent- 
age of  hulls  determined.  The  hulled  beans  were  then  sliced 
with  a sharp  knife.  Five  grams  were  weighed  into  an  extrac- 
tion tube,  dried  to  constant  weight  at  100°  (7.,  weighed,  and  ex- 
tracted for  sixteen  hours  with  anhydrous  ether.  The  oil  was 
determined  by  loss  in  weight  of  extraction  tube.  The  extracted 


slices  were  emptied  from  the  tube,  pulverized  in  an  agate  mor- 
tar, returned  to  the  same  tube,  dried  to  constant  weight,  and 
again  extracted  for  sixteen  hours.  A third  extraction  for  six- 
teen hours  showed  no  further  loss  in  weight. 

The  following  table  gives  the  weight  of  different  extracts 
from  five  gram  charges  of  the  same  sample  of  beans: 


SAMPLE  721 

First  Ex- 
traction 

Seco’d  Ex- 
traction 

Total  Oil 

Per  Cent. 
Oil 

1 

Number  1 

2.9504 

0.0670 

3.0174 

60.35 

Number  2 

2,9.526 

0.0632  ! 

3.0158 

60.32 

Number  3 

2.9701 

0.0585  i 

3.0286 

60.57 

Number  4 

2.9542 

0.0603  1 

3 0145 

60.29 

